Once Upon A Time
by emptyli'lfirefly
Summary: Lupin has to tell the younglings a story, so he tells them one people forgot a long time ago.
1. Prologue: Boredom

**Once Upon A Time**

_Author:_ emptyli'lfirefly

_Summary:_ Lupin has to tell the younglings a story, so he tells them one that people forgot a long time ago.

_Rating:_ PG 13

_Time line wise:_ a bit into Book 5 of Harry Potter, after he got off. I fiddled with the Buffy timeline a bit, but I won't tell you how because that'll ruin everything! Okay, when I say a bit; I mean it doesn't even make sense to me and I'm the one writing it!

_Spoilers:_ A bit from four of the Harry Potter books, anything from Buffy could be referenced. By the way, in this version Neville is part of the kid's of the order, because of his parents.

_Warnings:_ Language, violence, not too bad.

_Pairings: _Not telling you anything except… nope, you can suffer! Mwhahahaha!

_Disclaimer:_ Umm… I… come on Firefly you can do this! I… don't own… Buffy or Harry Potter! Yes! I finally admitted it, goodbye rehab, hello world! Right yeah, so plot's mine, OC's mine, basis not mine.

OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH

Prologue

"Lupin, we're bored, tell us a story!" Remus Lupin looked up from his cleaning to find that the children of the Order of the Pheonix had come to bother him. He wasn't really surprised, Mrs Weasley's overzealous cleaning method's could put anyone to sleep. He wasn't surprised that they were picking on him either; he was one of the most easy-going adults in the house. And Sirius wouldn't tell them a story that was rated PG.

The dear child that had whined the request was of course Ginny; for who else could say it with such mature immaturity?

"I'm sorry, but now isn't the best of times; you know that we're expecting a very important visitor-" Lupin attempted to talk himself out of it with great failure. He wasn't lying, of course, he was just embellishing on how important the guest was.

"Now, now old chap!" George interrupted,

"Let's have none of that defeatist attitude!" Fred picked up his identical twins frame of mind and the pair put comforting hands on his shoulders, making him feel more trapped than ever.

"Is that even the appropriate use of that word?" Hermione asked, quickly earning a light swat over the head by Ron.

Fred and George majestically ignored her 'equally defeatist attitude' and guided Remus into the nearby black, of course, squishy, of course, chair.

"We just want you to tell us a little story! If you do-"

"We won't even think about mentioning the idea of you and Tonks getting married-"

"To Mum."

Lupin was often amazed at how quick they could bounce off each other with quick repartee, but clearly this wasn't one of those days.

"Well, obviously we will have thought about it."

"Well yeah, otherwise we wouldn't be here."

"Right, but the point is that we won't actually mention it."

"Unless."

"Yeah, unless."

There was a pause as Lupin just stared at the twins in slight bafflement and amusement. His eyes sought out Harry's, which were laughing and twinkling _so akin to Lily's_, and with a little sigh he put the cleaning products and his wand down.

There was a little cheer from the kids as they quickly sat on the, slightly, clean floor and gazed up at him like kindergarten children.

Lupin dusted his hands on his robes and tried desperately to think of a story to tell them, unfortunately all his childhood stories included the Potter's and Peter Pettrigrew, and he wasn't sure if that was the right way to go.

Noticing that he was lacking in inspiration Ron yelled out, "Make sure it has adventure!"

The other's quickly joined in.

"Yeah! And brave heroine's!"

"Who cares about heroine's Hermione? Make sure there's heap of duels!"

"Stuff you Ron!"

"It… needs…" Neville yelled out the beginning haltingly, but lost his words in the others.

"Pranks!" (George)

"Secrets!" (Ginny)

"Power!" (Hermione)

"Friendship!" (Harry)

"Marauders!" (Fred)

"Slayage! Lot's of death and carnage!" (Ron)

"Make sure it has-"

Unfortunately, just before Neville could finally mention what he wanted in it Lupin interrupted all of them.

"Don't worry, I've thought of a story. Would you like to hear it?" Lupin smirked slightly as his brain worked hard.

"Well duh! Why do you think we're here?" Ginny sighed, growing slightly impatient.

"Okay, the story I'm going to tell you, is…" The group leant forward slightly inanticipation. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Marauder's of Hogwarts."

Harry grinned, knowing this was going to bring up Prongs, while none of the others, not even Hermione and Ron, made the connection.

"Whatty the whatty Slayer?" Ron asked, the curiosity already growing inside of him.

The other nodded in agreement, staring at Lupin in anticipation, again.

"Well, you'll just have to wait and find out!"

And with that, Lupin began the story he never thought he'd repeat.


	2. Chapter 1: Encounter

**Once Upon A Time**

_Author:_ emptyli'lfirefly

_Summary:_ Lupin has to tell the younglings a story, so he tells them one that people forgot a long time ago.

_Rating:_ PG 13

_Time line wise:_ a bit into Book 5 of Harry Potter, after he got off. I fiddled with the Buffy timeline a bit, but I won't tell you how because that'll ruin everything! Okay, when I say a bit; I mean it doesn't even make sense to me and I'm the one writing it!

_Spoilers:_ A bit from four of the Harry Potter books, anything from Buffy could be referenced. By the way, in this version Neville is part of the kid's of the order, because of his parents.

_Warnings:_ Language, violence, not too bad.

_Pairings: _Not telling you anything except… nope, you can suffer! Mwhahahaha!

_Disclaimer:_ Umm… I… come on Firefly you can do this! I… don't own… Buffy or Harry Potter! Yes! I finally admitted it, goodbye rehab, hello world! Right yeah, so plot's mine, OC's mine, basis not mine.

Chapter One.

Once upon a time Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and-

"_Wait, we already know the name! Why bother?"_

"_Shut up Ron."_

Ahem… Witchcraft and Wizardry, was constantly in laughter thanks to the hilarious terror brought on by the Marauder's. The Marauder's of Hogwarts were four boys in 7th year, James, Si… uh, Sam, Peter and… uhm… Alex.

James and Sam were the leader's of the group, they were the smartest, best-looking, most charming, most psycho, of the four and it was generally their fault if the group did something stupid. Peter was the really quiet one, he liked people who were powerful and popular; so the Marauder's were just his type. And then there was Alex. He was smart, the one that was meant to hold the other's back from doing anything stupid.

"_I like the sound of the Alex one!"_

"_Glad to hear that Harry."_

Now said four were doing what they loved to do on that day; break rules. They were currently walking along in the middle of the Forbidden Forest, looking for anything that might interest them. Of course, because they were in the forest, it wasn't long before they ran into a strange occurrence.

In the middle of a clearing stood a Centaur; his body was that of a chestnut horse, and his human head was covered with red hair.

"Why, hello there!" James exclaimed, walking closer as if this were something he saw everyday.

"Greetings Mr" _uhm_ "Stagley, what brings you to the Forest?" Bane asked, gazing up to the sky mysteriously.

"Looking for a bit of… amusement?" Alex suggested, leaning on Peter's shoulder.

"In a place like this?" Bane's voice was tangible with doubt and Sam grinned.

"Well, Snivellus has detention and all the girls are busy!" Sam looked around the clearing curiously. "What's up with this place? Never been here before."

Bane sighed and gazed mournfully at the sky, "Mercury and Venus are aligning tonight."

James raised an eyebrow and the four boys looked up also. "No chance of that alligning us with a bit of adventure is there?"

"Perhaps, if the signs are all correct than tonight there should be a visitor." Bane shook his head and began to trot regally away.

"Wait? What?" Peter blinked, and attempted to question the Centaur more closely. However James and Alex put hands on his shoulders and kept him back while Sam just sighed and shook his mangy hair.

"Well, as interesting as this is, we should better head back; I have a feeling it'll be dinner soon."

Peter sniffed the air in agreement. "Definitely!" he began to run in the direction of the castle when he realized that the others weren't following.

He turned around to see them staring straight into the eyes of a dragon, a small dragon, but a dragon none-the-less.

_Lupin paused momentarily in his story, to find that he had indeed managed to captivate his audience._

"_Well… what happened?" Ron asked fitfully, his impatience getting the better of him while the others waited silently._

"_Isn't it obvious Ron?" Hermione asked, rolling her eyes slightly, "They would have performed a _Conjunctivitus Curse_! They did, didn't they professor?"_

_Lupin smothered a smile, he had to admit that Hermione was fast on her way to second-guessing any wizard's actions. _

_But not in this case. _

"_I won't ruin the surprise for you!"_

_He quickly summoned a glass of water, talking non-stop was hard work, while the others began to toss out their own opinions._

"_I dunno, I reckon they're gonna tame the dragon and use it to drive the school nuts!" Ron decided, certain that he was right._

_However the twins, as fellow pranksters, disagreed. "That's bollocks Ronney-kins! As the current marauders of hogwarts I would have to say that they would dress it up as one of the teachers, teach it to dance, and have an exhibition in the hall!"_

_The group laughed whole-heartedly at this, but none of them actually disagreed; with marauder's you could never actually know._

"_Well, what did happen?" Neville finally asked, finding his voice among the chatter._

_Lupin smiled mysteriously, "Well, it went a little something like this! James slightly shifted his left foot…"_

James slightly shifted his left foot, wanting to get closer without disturbing the creature's haunting gaze. They all had a bad feeling that if the dragon was shook out of its staring contest they were dead.

He lifted his foot up and slowly stepped backwards, moving his left hand to his wand slowly at the same time. The other's followed his lead, Sam and Alex steadying Peter.

The dragon, for it's own part, was something of a beauty.

"_A beautiful dragon, that's a new one!"_

"_You've never asked Hagrid about dragons, have you?"_

It's scales were a deep burgundy, tinged with orange, and it had deep, dark and sad eyes that begged for compassion. It fluttered it's wings nervously, staring at the four with worried wonder.

The boys continued to back up, they all knew that a worried dragon was generally the worst kind, and were almost out of the clearing when the dragon looked up ot the sky and let out a screech that echoed into the heavens.

"_Ooh, poetic!"_

"_Shut up Ron!"_

In the distance a similar screech echoed from the sky and the boys looked up towards the castle to see a large black shape soaring past, with a figure on it's back.

"Bloody Hell." James whispered, he turned back to look at the other dragon again only to discover that it had disappeared.

"Woah, wonder what that was about." Alex was the second one to notice that the dragon was gone, but the first to wake up from the spell that the moment had woven over them.

"Yeah… come on, I'm hungry." Sam grinned and quickly led the way up to the castle, with the others following behind; staring up at the sky in wonder.


End file.
